Does enjoying my Corporations class mean I will like corporate (M&A) practice? Forum

[Anonymous User]

I heard no law school class can tell you whether you will enjoy transactional practice. But I really enjoyed my Corporations class this semester. Does this mean I might enjoy corporate (M&A) practice?

[Anonymous User]

Corporations is taught differently by different professors, but it's often another litigation-focused class. Just Chancery litigation.

[CanadianWolf]

No.

Enjoying an academic course in law school does not mean that one will enjoy the actual practice of law in that area or in any other subject matter area.

[Anonymous User]

Not necessarily - it is more likely you would enjoy a corporate litigation practice.

[Chapter Eleven]

Echoing the previous answers to some extent, but with some caveats:

1) Practice and theory are two very different beasts, but stepping back to see how a clause or agreement connects to broader theories, jurisprudence, and business practices gives you a clearer sense of its purpose in practice—which can help break free from the "I'm just a Word monkey" mindset - which helps professionally long-term (though only to a certain degree). Even in M&A, there’s always the looming concern of an agreement landing in the hands of litigators because a clause left room for interpretation or weaknesses. So even if you end up in M&A, it’s not as unidimensional as simply drafting agreements and ignoring how litigators might view or challenge the language you’ve crafted. Sure, you can choose to focus solely on drafting and shut down any other perspective on what you do, but to me, that’s a mediocre approach.

2) I’d also add that if your interest naturally gravitates toward a specific set of classes in law school, it likely reflects what you’ll enjoy being exposed to in practice. For me, I gravitated toward and chose strictly business-focused courses—like corporate finance, corporations, and tax law—because it’s not just about learning the law itself but about understanding the broader landscape in which these areas operate and connect. Once you’re employed, you won’t just be drafting agreements; ideally, you’ll maintain that curiosity to understand the business rationale driving the deals—a curiosity that ultimately stems from genuine interest.

I would also recommend following a Corporate Finance course on top of Corporations to understand the entire picture of M&A because unfortunately the likeability of a course is highly determined by the professor who teaches it.

[UnassumingUsername]

I'd echo what the other posters say. Corp law is more geared towards Delaware case law. Day-to-day corporate practice is a lot of admin, with real Delware corp law questions being asked to local counsel by mid-law attorneys or higher. Junior corp associates generally just do diligence including material contracts, corp organization docs and corporate actions, admin work including managing the specialists and note taking, and writing and reviewing a ton of non-disclosure agreements. Eventually you'll also be asked a tad more business questions and really create relationships with clients.